Well, as you can see, I've fallen off the wagon, when it comes to this blog and my religious/spiritual practice, since Lent. Maybe, I went too fast and hard up and now must return fast and hard to the earth. I surely feel rather blah - hate my job, hate the fact that I have little or no money (live paycheck to paycheck) and feel I have very little if no other options to do otherwise.
Whooo Hoooo!!!!
On top of all this, I am completely losing faith in the religion that I have been culturally and historically rooted in. Easter did me in this year. The whole issue of Crucifixion/Sacrifice = Atonement seems like a Barbaric and Simple answer to The Problem of Evil and Suffering in the world. In point of fact, The Crucifixion takes an evil act full of suffering and tries to make "IT" The World's Answer to Evil and Suffering; how ironic. I've scoured the internet and read some (Xtian, both progressive and regressive) books on this and yet they all seem to dance around the subject. Any takers??? I'm ALL ears???
I have always been an open book and brutally honest, so forgive me for being such a downer but this is just where I am at right now.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Easter Musings
So I’m perusing the net and find this article: Rejecting Blood Sacrifice Theology, Again and begin, again, to think and feel deeply ill-at-ease about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So much of evangelical fundamentalist penal substitutionary theology seems so very tribal and primal. If you really take a hard and honest look at early Judaism it seems to be no different than many of the other tribal fertility cults that existed in the same area at that time in history. Blood had to be spilled in order for the crops to grow and/or to dispel evil, etc. Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker in their books Saving Paradise and Proverbs of Ashes question the common understanding that Jesus merely “suffered” on the cross rather than his being a “victim” of very horrific “institutional violence.” I grapple with how a God who is supposedly “all loving,” “all knowing,” and “all powerful” could take part in such base relations and primal justice?
This kind of pervasive violence seems to be prevalent even in today’s postmodern democratically just society. In North Tulsa and the Turley area where my church just arrived home from service work two men went on a shooting spree over the weekend and killed and/or hospitalized several people: 2 Suspects Confessed In Tulsa Shootings. A policeman here in Austin was shot in the line of duty: Officer in Austin fatally shot inside Walmart. Then there’s this in today’s paper: Trial of woman accused in child's 2010 death opens with tearful testimony. Then there’s: Trayvon Redux: Austin Cop Shoots and Kills Negro Male Who was Trying to Kill Him; Community Outraged at Cop. And, we all know of the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case.
My brother took his life a week after Easter nearly twenty years ago, and my mother just reported that the son of an old friend just took his life. He was nineteen and planned on going to A&M next year. He wrote music and played guitar. I read somewhere that more people kill themselves in the spring more than any other time of the year. Why is that? You would think it would be just the opposite. It’s weird and ironic that in the spring when so much new life is budding and bubbling forth, when we celebrate resurrection, bunnies, eggs, etc that people choose this time to take their own or others lives in such horrific and violent ways.
DEATH, PLEASE, BE NOT PROUD...
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Day 82
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience,
Knowledge without character,
Commerce without morality,
Science without humanity,
Worship without sacrifice, and
Politics without principle.
the seven deadly sins - Mahatma Gandhi
INTERFAITH PRAYER OF THE DAY
Prayer
Spirit of life and love--
Soul of souls
And sole of soles--
Thank you
For the ground of being
Upon which I am blessed
To place my feet
Each day.
Thank you for the light
Shining upon
Each path
That presents itself
Before me.
Thank you, spirit of life and love
Soul of souls
For the journey
You place before me--
The stroll
The saunter
The wondering.
The pilgrimage
The hajj
El camino.
Thank you for the forks
In the road
Which cause me to pause
To question
To discern.
Thank you for the labyrinthine way
No forks
No dead ends
Just going in
To find out.
Thank you, spirit of life and love
For the moonlight
For the walks along the highway
Among the willows
Searching for you
And finding you
In every step.
Every root
Every rut.
Every vista
Of the undulating riverbed
Of the floodwaters.
Thank you, spirit of life and love
For stability
For resilience
For strength
Involved in every step
Literally every step
I take.
And with every step I take
I give thanks
For all the kindred travelers
I encounter--
The birds
The couples
The dogs leading the way
The entourages
The single birder with his binoculars
Babies in slings
Old women with walking sticks
Speakers of foreign tongues
Squirrels
Turtles
Fish
And the two young women
In pilot shades
And porkpie hats
Both paused in a spot of shade
Looking seriously
At their smart phones
Immune
To the beauty
Around them.
May they some day
Tuck away
Gadgety things
Raise their eyes
And
Like Saul
On the road to Damascus
Be struck
By a call
To live life
Fully awake
Right here
Right now
On the path
They have found themselves on.
Spirit of life and love--
So may the same
Be for me.
May the walk
I walk
Find me
Lost
In humility
In awe
In beauty
And ultimately
In discovery
I have been found
By grace
Walking its way
To me.
believed to written by Eliza Galaher
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
LESSON 82
We will review these ideas today:
(63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name].
I share the light of the world with you, [name].
Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.
(64) Let me not forget my function.
Let me not use this to hide my function from me.
I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function.
This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.
EDGAR CAYCE DAILY READING
Think on This...
Then, we would give that not only must the body-mind turn to the spiritual promises that are a part of its mental and spiritual self, but the environment must be changed; so that the spiritual promises may be put to active service and work to replace the habits with the habits of doing good, doing right, doing justice, being merciful.
Reading 1427-1
Monday, April 2, 2012
When and How Can Serving Others Become Simply Building Up My Spiritual Ego?
In other words, "How Might I Live Simply (Sustainably) So That Others Might Simply Live?"
Servant Partners
Word Made Flesh
New Monasticism
Bernie Glassman 1: Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, Loving Action
Dangerous Harvests: Are Bearing Witness Retreats Sugar for the Privile...: Over at one of her blogs, Buddhist blogger Nella Lou writes: There’s a lot of these witnessing retreats going on where the bourgeoisie p...
It's incredibly oxymoronic to think that I and/or we can fully "Bear Witness" to what those who died at Auschwitz experienced during WWII at a "retreat," and yet is it not worth my or your while to strive to experience their suffering in some small sense, whether it's reading an auto-biography of a survivor or going to the site and sitting amongst the ashes so to speak?
I DON'T KNOW YOU TELL ME? I really am interested in ALL of your thoughts and feelings on this so feel free to comment whenever and however. No Condemnation nor Criticism. ALL Comments are Welcome...??? All I ask is that you read the above articles and/or posts and think about them before commenting.
Peace and Love,
Daniel
THE HOLY FOOL, CRAZY WISDOM, and THE LORD OF THE DANCE
Great article: THE WISDOM OF HOLY FOOLS IN POSTMODERNITY
LORD OF THE DANCE
by
Robert Lentz
"One of the most ancient masculine images of God in Europe is a benign antlered figure. This image predates Celtic civilization, but was embraced by the Celts for its beauty and truth. The Horned God was a protector of all animal life. He was especially linked with the masculine sexuality and spirituality. He was considered Lord of the Otherworld and guided souls to their destination after death. In Celtic art he is usually shown sitting cross-legged and wearing a torque -- the Celtic symbol of authority.
"Christian missionaries tried to stamp out the image of the horned god when they came to northern lands. Monastic scribes re-told ancient legends with an increasingly sinister twist. In time, the Horned God was pictured in the popular imagination as a demonic figure who rode through the night skies in search of damned souls. There are still places in England, however, where Christian men don stag antlers and dance for ancient feasts.
"In Celtic mythology, individuals like Merlin sometimes assume the personality of the Horned God. In this icon, the Horned God is connected with Christ. Christ sits before us in the posture of the Horned God, totally naked, but without shame. His confident nakedness emphasizes that what God has made is good. Behind him are ancient European petroglyphs of the Horned God. He bears the wounds of his crucifixion to signify that he has risen and has taken a more cosmic character than he had during his life in Palestine. He is beating a drum and inviting us to dance; reminiscent of a medieval English carol that describes him as the 'Lord of the Dance.' "
For more details on the Lord of the Dance and the Horned God, click here:
Trinity: Religious Artwork and Icons
I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.
Refrain
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.
I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
They came to me and the dance went on.
Refrain
I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
The holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
And they left me there on a cross to die.
Refrain
I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.
Refrain
They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Refrain
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Catch Up and Check In
My Lenten Fast is over and I have learned that, for me personally, it is easier to give up an habitual behavior than it is to take on a new behavior. Melissa (my spouse), claims I was easier to live with while I was not drinking alcohol and my son (Griffin), who believes just about anything he reads at present, asked if I have ever partook of spirits, meaning alcohol, and I said, "yes." He promptly freaked out, showing me a school library book entitled, Spontaneous Combustion, telling me there was was a story in it about a woman who consumed so many spirits that she exploded on a hot day (it's Aprils Fools Day today but this is a true story based on true events).
As for religious holidays that I have missed celebrating and/or mentioning on this blog:
Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March. In 2009, Holi (Dhulandi) was on March 11 and Holika Dahan was on March 10. In 2010, Holi was on March 1 and Holika Dahan was on February 28. In 2011, Holi was on March 20 and Holika Dahan was on March 19.
In most areas, Holi lasts about two days. One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, gender, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Additionally, Holi lowers (but does not remove completely) the strictness of social norms. No one expects polite behavior; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement, fun and joy.
Every year, thousands of Hindus participate in the festival Holi. The festival has many purposes. First and foremost, it celebrates the beginning of the new season, spring. It also has a religious purpose, commemorating many events that are present in Hindu mythology. Although it is the least religious holiday, it is probably one of the most exhilarating ones in existence. During this event, participants hold a bonfire, throw colored powder at each other, and celebrate wildly.
Originally, it was a festival that commemorated good harvests and the fertile land. In addition to celebrating the coming of spring, Holi has even greater purposes. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colors and saying farewell to winter. Furthermore, Holi celebrates many religious myths and legends.
Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.
For people of Punjab, especially the Sikhs, Visakhi is a mega event. It's a religious as well as harvest festival and New Year Day also. For the Sikh community, it has a very special meaning. Sikhs celebrate Visakhi as the day of the formation of the Khalsa (the pure one). On the day, in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh (the tenth Sikh Guru) established the Khalsa and eliminated the differences of high and low and established that all human beings are equal.Sikhism, in its present form, owes its existence to that Visakhi day. After the Visakhi day of 1699, the tradition of Gurus was put to an end by the Sikhs and later the Guru Granth Sahib was declared as their eternal guide and Holy Book by the tenth Guru.
The history tells another story that in 1567, Guru Ram Das committed Visakhi as one of the special days, when all the Sikhs would assemble to seek the blessings from Guru at Goindwal. Many Sikhs believe that on the day of Baisakhi, martyred by the barbaric acts of the Muslim rulers. According to the legend, he was dumped into boiling oil, by the Muslim rulers.
Creation of the Khalsa
It was the Visakhi day of 1699. The tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, standing outside a tent, called for a Sikh to sacrifice himself, on hearing this one Sikh volunteer presented himself before the Guru for sacrifice. Then the Guru took him to a tent a and came out with a blood stained sword that frightened the gathering. He then called for another volunteer four more times, and one-by-one, four others stepped forward for the calling of their guru. The same happened with the four. Later, the Guru used his Divine powers to bring the 5 back to life. The "5 Beloved Ones" were given a new life, they were reborn and were given a unique appearance and were called the Singh's. Then the Guru made Amrit (sacred water) with clear water and Patashas (Punjabi sweeteners) in an iron bowl while reading the holy Gurbani and baptized the five volunteers with the Amrit, added Singh to their names and called them Panj Piare (the beloved five). Then the Guru took the Amrit from them and became Gobind Singh from Gobind Rai.
(There is another story that says that he sacrificed goats instead of people and that this story was actually a test of devotion to the cause. It is the one that is more popularly believed by Sikhs.)
Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in general.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire, public parades and processions, and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland,Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.[citation needed]
In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish church.
The vernal equinox, often called Ostara, is celebrated in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane.
The name Ostara may be related to the word for "east". It has been connected to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie.
In terms of Wiccan ditheism, this festival is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death. Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.
Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, IPA: [nouˈɾuːz], meaning "[The] New Day") is the name of the Iranian New Year in Iranian calendars and the corresponding traditional celebrations. Nowruz is also widely referred to as the "Persian New Year".
Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in the Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in parts of the South Asian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.
Originally being a Zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.
The Jewish festival of Purim is probably adopted from the Persian New Year. It is also a holy day for Sufis, Ismailis, Alawites, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá'í Faith.
The term Nowruz in writing, first appeared in Persian records in the 2nd century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids c. 548–330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the Emperor, also called King of Kings (Shahanshah), of Persia on Nowruz. The significance of Nowruz in the Achaemenid empire was such that the great Persian king Cambyses II's appointment as the king of Babylon was legitimized only after his participation in the New Year festival (Nowruz).
The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Nowruz, describing it a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.During the meeting of The Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of the United Nations, held between 28 September – 2 October 2009 in Abu Dhabi, Nowrūz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith is one of nine holy days for adherents of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide and the first day of the Bahá'í calendar occurring on the vernal equinox, around March 21. The Bahá'í calendar is composed of 19 months, each of 19 days, and each of the months is named after an attribute of God; similarly each of the nineteen days in the month also are named after an attribute of God. The first day and the first month were given the attribute of Bahá, an Arabic word meaning splendour or glory, and thus the first day of the year was the day of Bahá in the month of Bahá. Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, explained that Naw-Rúz was associated with the Most Great Name of God, and was instituted as a festival for those who observed the Nineteen day fast.
The day is also used to symbolize the renewal of time in each religious dispensation. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son and successor, explained that significance of Naw-Rúz in terms of spring and the new life it brings. He explained that the equinox is a symbol of the messengers of God and the message that they proclaim is like a spiritual springtime, and that Naw-Rúz is used to commemorate it.
As with all Bahá'í holy days, there are few fixed rules for observing Naw-Rúz, and Bahá'ís all over the world celebrate it as a festive day, according to local custom. Persian Bahá'ís still observe many of the Iranian customs associated with Nowruz such as the Haft Sîn, but American Bahá'í communities, for example, may have a potluck dinner, along with prayers and readings from Bahá'í scripture.
As for religious holidays that I have missed celebrating and/or mentioning on this blog:
HOLI
Hindu holiday
celebrated on March 9th
from Wikipedia
Holi (Hindi: होली), is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as Festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Mauritius, and Fiji. It is also known as Doḷajāta (Oriya: ଦୋଳଯାତ) in Orissa and Dol Jatra (Bengali: দোলযাত্রা) or Basantotsav ("spring festival") (Bengali: বসন্তোৎসব) in West Bengal. The most celebrated Holi is in the Braj region, in locations connected to the Lord Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana. These places have become tourist destinations during the festive season of Holi.Large parts of South India, however, do not celebrate Holi with the same fervour as in other parts of the country.
The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, also Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing scented powder and perfume at each other. Bonfires are lit on the eve of the festival, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). After doing holika dahan prayers are said and praise is offered. The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad accomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in South India.
In most areas, Holi lasts about two days. One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, gender, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Additionally, Holi lowers (but does not remove completely) the strictness of social norms. No one expects polite behavior; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement, fun and joy.
Every year, thousands of Hindus participate in the festival Holi. The festival has many purposes. First and foremost, it celebrates the beginning of the new season, spring. It also has a religious purpose, commemorating many events that are present in Hindu mythology. Although it is the least religious holiday, it is probably one of the most exhilarating ones in existence. During this event, participants hold a bonfire, throw colored powder at each other, and celebrate wildly.
Originally, it was a festival that commemorated good harvests and the fertile land. In addition to celebrating the coming of spring, Holi has even greater purposes. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colors and saying farewell to winter. Furthermore, Holi celebrates many religious myths and legends.
Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.
Vaisakhi
Sikh holiday
celebrated on March 13th
celebrated on March 13th
from Wikipedia
The history tells another story that in 1567, Guru Ram Das committed Visakhi as one of the special days, when all the Sikhs would assemble to seek the blessings from Guru at Goindwal. Many Sikhs believe that on the day of Baisakhi, martyred by the barbaric acts of the Muslim rulers. According to the legend, he was dumped into boiling oil, by the Muslim rulers.
Creation of the Khalsa
It was the Visakhi day of 1699. The tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, standing outside a tent, called for a Sikh to sacrifice himself, on hearing this one Sikh volunteer presented himself before the Guru for sacrifice. Then the Guru took him to a tent a and came out with a blood stained sword that frightened the gathering. He then called for another volunteer four more times, and one-by-one, four others stepped forward for the calling of their guru. The same happened with the four. Later, the Guru used his Divine powers to bring the 5 back to life. The "5 Beloved Ones" were given a new life, they were reborn and were given a unique appearance and were called the Singh's. Then the Guru made Amrit (sacred water) with clear water and Patashas (Punjabi sweeteners) in an iron bowl while reading the holy Gurbani and baptized the five volunteers with the Amrit, added Singh to their names and called them Panj Piare (the beloved five). Then the Guru took the Amrit from them and became Gobind Singh from Gobind Rai.
(There is another story that says that he sacrificed goats instead of people and that this story was actually a test of devotion to the cause. It is the one that is more popularly believed by Sikhs.)
St. Patricks Day
Christian holiday
celebrated on March 17th
celebrated on March 17th
from Wikipedia
It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in general.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire, public parades and processions, and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland,Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.[citation needed]
In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish church.
Spring/Vernal Equinox
Wiccan/Pagan holiday
celebrated on March 20th (and/or September 23rd in the Southern hemisphere)
celebrated on March 20th (and/or September 23rd in the Southern hemisphere)
from Wikipedia
The name Ostara may be related to the word for "east". It has been connected to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie.
In terms of Wiccan ditheism, this festival is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death. Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.
Naw-Ruz
Baha i and Persian New Year
celebrated on March 2121
celebrated on March 2121
from Wikipedia
Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in the Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranians, the same time is celebrated in parts of the South Asian sub-continent as the new year. The moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and Iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.
Originally being a Zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.
The Jewish festival of Purim is probably adopted from the Persian New Year. It is also a holy day for Sufis, Ismailis, Alawites, Alevis, and adherents of the Bahá'í Faith.
The term Nowruz in writing, first appeared in Persian records in the 2nd century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids c. 548–330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the Emperor, also called King of Kings (Shahanshah), of Persia on Nowruz. The significance of Nowruz in the Achaemenid empire was such that the great Persian king Cambyses II's appointment as the king of Babylon was legitimized only after his participation in the New Year festival (Nowruz).
The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Nowruz, describing it a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.During the meeting of The Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage of the United Nations, held between 28 September – 2 October 2009 in Abu Dhabi, Nowrūz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith is one of nine holy days for adherents of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide and the first day of the Bahá'í calendar occurring on the vernal equinox, around March 21. The Bahá'í calendar is composed of 19 months, each of 19 days, and each of the months is named after an attribute of God; similarly each of the nineteen days in the month also are named after an attribute of God. The first day and the first month were given the attribute of Bahá, an Arabic word meaning splendour or glory, and thus the first day of the year was the day of Bahá in the month of Bahá. Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, explained that Naw-Rúz was associated with the Most Great Name of God, and was instituted as a festival for those who observed the Nineteen day fast.
The day is also used to symbolize the renewal of time in each religious dispensation. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son and successor, explained that significance of Naw-Rúz in terms of spring and the new life it brings. He explained that the equinox is a symbol of the messengers of God and the message that they proclaim is like a spiritual springtime, and that Naw-Rúz is used to commemorate it.
As with all Bahá'í holy days, there are few fixed rules for observing Naw-Rúz, and Bahá'ís all over the world celebrate it as a festive day, according to local custom. Persian Bahá'ís still observe many of the Iranian customs associated with Nowruz such as the Haft Sîn, but American Bahá'í communities, for example, may have a potluck dinner, along with prayers and readings from Bahá'í scripture.
Day 81
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out and resonate
in every word and every deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There's no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
prison writings - My Life is My Sun Dance - Leonard Peltier
INTERFAITH PRAYER OF THE DAY
O Krishna, it is right that the world delights
and rejoices in your praise,
that all the saints and sages bow down to you
and all evil flees before you to the far corners of the universe.
How could they not worship you, O Lord?
You are the eternal spirit,
who existed before Brahma the creator
and who will never cease to be,
the Lord of the gods,
you are the abode of the universe.
Changeless, you are what is and what is not,
and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence.
You are the first among gods,
the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings.
You are the knower and the thing which is known.
You are the final home;
within your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.
You are Vayu, god of wind;
Yama, god of death;
Agni, god of fire;
Varuna, god of water.
You are the moon and the creator Prajapati,
and the great-grandfather of all creatures.
I bow before you and salute you again and again.
You are behind me and in front of me;
I bow to you on every side.
Your power is immeasurable.
You pervade everything;
you are everything.
The Bhagavad Gita - 11:36-40 - Arjuna
NAM RAVAMI
from Wikipedia
Ram Navami (Devanāgarī: राम नवमी) also known as Sri Rama Navami (IAST SriRām-navamī) is a Hindu festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Rama to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya of Ayodhya. Ram is the 7th incarnation of the Dashavatara of Vishnu. Years later Lord Rama was married to Sita on the Vivaha Panchami. The sacred marriage of Devi Sita with Lord Rama was held on Margashirsha Shukla Panchami as per Valmiki Ramayana (This occasion is known as Seetha kalyanam). The SreeRama Navami festival falls in the Shukla Paksha on the Navami, the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar. Thus it is also known as Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami, and marks the end of the nine-day Chaitra-Navratri celebrations.
At some places the festival lasts the whole nine days of the Navratras, thus the period is called 'Sri Rama Navratra'. It is marked by continuous recitals, Akhand Paath, mostly of the Ramacharitamanas, organized several days in advance to culminate on this day, with elaborate bhajan, kirtan and distribution of prasad after the puja and aarti. Images of infant form of Sri Rama are placed on cradles and rocked by devotees. Since Rama is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu having born at noon, temples and family shrines are elaborately decorated and traditional prayers are chanted together by the family in the morning. Also, at temples special havans are organized, along with Vedic chanting of Vedic mantras and offerings of fruits and flowers. Many followers mark this day by Vrata (fasting) through the day followed by feasting in the evening, or at the culmination of celebrations.In South India,in Bhadrachalam the day is also celebrated as the wedding anniversary of Sri Rama and his consort Sita. Sitarama Kalyanam, the ceremonial wedding ceremony of the celestial couple is held at temples throughout the south region, with great fanfare and accompanied by group chanting of name of Rama, (Rama nama smaranam). Whereas the marriage is celebrated in Mithila and Ayodhya during another day on Vivaha Panchami as per Valmiki Ramayana.
The important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), thronged by thousands of devotees. Rathayatras, the chariot processions, also known as Shobha yatras of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, are taken out at several places, including Ayodhya where thousands of people take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu.
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
LESSON 81
Our ideas for review today are:
(61) I am the light of the world.
Let me not obscure the light of the world in me.
Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.
This shadow will vanish before the light.
(62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
Let this help me learn what forgiveness means.
Let me not separate my function from my will.
I will not use this for an alien purpose.
EDGAR CAYCE DAILY READING
Think on This...
Look within. For thy body is indeed the temple of the living God. Thy purpose in life, in the experience in the earth, is to magnify that glory which may be thine when ye have attained to same.
Reading 3457-1
Silence, they say, is the voice of complicity.
But silence is impossible.
Silence screams.
Silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.
Let who you are ring out and resonate
in every word and every deed.
Yes, become who you are.
There's no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.
What you do is who you are.
You are your own comeuppance.
You become your own message.
You are the message.
prison writings - My Life is My Sun Dance - Leonard Peltier
INTERFAITH PRAYER OF THE DAY
O Krishna, it is right that the world delights
and rejoices in your praise,
that all the saints and sages bow down to you
and all evil flees before you to the far corners of the universe.
How could they not worship you, O Lord?
You are the eternal spirit,
who existed before Brahma the creator
and who will never cease to be,
the Lord of the gods,
you are the abode of the universe.
Changeless, you are what is and what is not,
and beyond the duality of existence and nonexistence.
You are the first among gods,
the timeless spirit, the resting place of all beings.
You are the knower and the thing which is known.
You are the final home;
within your infinite form you pervade the cosmos.
You are Vayu, god of wind;
Yama, god of death;
Agni, god of fire;
Varuna, god of water.
You are the moon and the creator Prajapati,
and the great-grandfather of all creatures.
I bow before you and salute you again and again.
You are behind me and in front of me;
I bow to you on every side.
Your power is immeasurable.
You pervade everything;
you are everything.
The Bhagavad Gita - 11:36-40 - Arjuna
NAM RAVAMI
from Wikipedia
Ram Navami (Devanāgarī: राम नवमी) also known as Sri Rama Navami (IAST SriRām-navamī) is a Hindu festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Rama to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya of Ayodhya. Ram is the 7th incarnation of the Dashavatara of Vishnu. Years later Lord Rama was married to Sita on the Vivaha Panchami. The sacred marriage of Devi Sita with Lord Rama was held on Margashirsha Shukla Panchami as per Valmiki Ramayana (This occasion is known as Seetha kalyanam). The SreeRama Navami festival falls in the Shukla Paksha on the Navami, the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar. Thus it is also known as Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami, and marks the end of the nine-day Chaitra-Navratri celebrations.
At some places the festival lasts the whole nine days of the Navratras, thus the period is called 'Sri Rama Navratra'. It is marked by continuous recitals, Akhand Paath, mostly of the Ramacharitamanas, organized several days in advance to culminate on this day, with elaborate bhajan, kirtan and distribution of prasad after the puja and aarti. Images of infant form of Sri Rama are placed on cradles and rocked by devotees. Since Rama is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu having born at noon, temples and family shrines are elaborately decorated and traditional prayers are chanted together by the family in the morning. Also, at temples special havans are organized, along with Vedic chanting of Vedic mantras and offerings of fruits and flowers. Many followers mark this day by Vrata (fasting) through the day followed by feasting in the evening, or at the culmination of celebrations.In South India,in Bhadrachalam the day is also celebrated as the wedding anniversary of Sri Rama and his consort Sita. Sitarama Kalyanam, the ceremonial wedding ceremony of the celestial couple is held at temples throughout the south region, with great fanfare and accompanied by group chanting of name of Rama, (Rama nama smaranam). Whereas the marriage is celebrated in Mithila and Ayodhya during another day on Vivaha Panchami as per Valmiki Ramayana.
The important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), thronged by thousands of devotees. Rathayatras, the chariot processions, also known as Shobha yatras of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, are taken out at several places, including Ayodhya where thousands of people take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu.
A COURSE IN MIRACLES
LESSON 81
Our ideas for review today are:
(61) I am the light of the world.
Let me not obscure the light of the world in me.
Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.
This shadow will vanish before the light.
(62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
Let this help me learn what forgiveness means.
Let me not separate my function from my will.
I will not use this for an alien purpose.
EDGAR CAYCE DAILY READING
Think on This...
Look within. For thy body is indeed the temple of the living God. Thy purpose in life, in the experience in the earth, is to magnify that glory which may be thine when ye have attained to same.
Reading 3457-1
TODAY'S RELIGIOUS iCON
April Fools Palm Sunday
RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
Have fun with the jokes but be nice.
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